'The Last of Us' CORDYCEPS FUNGUS Zombie-fied My Queen Ants

A killer Cordyceps fungus killed my queen ants. I have been caring for a trio sorority of weaver ant queens (Oecopylla smaragdina) looking forward to them founding a colony so they could spin their iconic leaf basket nests in leaves. However, tragedy struck when I discovered the queens totally engulfed in a lethal fungus. But there is some good news. Ant love forever! This video was shot in 4K Ultra HD resolution.

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Directed/Written/DOP/Edited by AntsCanada
Executive Producer RJ Garcia

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[Stormlord]

Hi! An almost-expert-mycologist here (i'm doing my PhD on the topic of Entomopathogenic Fungi - EPF)!
i've spent the last year and a half creating a collection of EPF to test for pathogenicity against insects (in my specific case, vineyards pest for the most); i have some Cordyceps in my collection and i would highly suggest you to keep your ants away from the infected ones (or area where you keep them, since conidia are volatiles). Even tho most of the fungi have preferred targets, they can absolutly feast on other insects (expecially species close to the targets like other species of ants) if necessary.
My advice would be: remove dead insects from the enclosure, use abundant alcool or ammonia to wash the terrarium, use a UV lamp to sterylize the terrarium if you have it.
Glad to see you managed to save one queen! Good luck!

[awesomedonut]

The series is called Almost Paradise (2020), our beloved AntsCanada is in season 2, episode 5 and 10, as mentioned in the video

[AntsCanada]

Greetings AC Family & fellow ant lovers everywhere! I am so sorry, guys. Short video this week. This fungus outbreak was totally unexpected, and don't worry, I have completely disinfected the whole counter to be safe! But, at least... well, you'll see! Hope you could remember to hit LIKE, leave me a COMMENT, SHARE the video, and SUBSCRIBE (hit the BELL & Select ALL for Notifications Squad) to the channel to join our ever-growing AC Family! Love you, guys! 🙏🌿🐜 Ant love forever!

[emmacavalier]

This event, while sad, is still interesting biologically. This is the circle of life.

[taylorsmith]

My man. You show up in my feed, with some of the most random stuff, and yet it’s never clickbait as far as I remember. Kudos

[ULTRAKILLER]

I was looking forward to seeing weaver ants on this channel once more, but the cordyceps fungus has sadly crushed my dreams of seeing weaver ants again, but the twist at the end brought my hopes up once more! Ant love forever!❤🐜❤

[BCSpalletta]

That's too bad about the other queens, but I'm really excited that another queen survived and that she's already in the plant! So cool!

[ValorantGuy]

Man, he has outsmarted the fungus. He got a whole emergency plan we didnt even know !!!

[davidsmith]

Here are some facts about cordyceps that may be of interest to you and your viewers.
1- They are species specific, so the chance for cross-over is low. That said, they can cross-over to related species. When they do, typical climbing, biting, and sprouting behavior are rarely observed. This might be the case for your queens. The process usually takes 4-10 days, so if your ants lasted longer than that, it probably wasn't introduced by the dead queen (who should have shown signs of fungal release herself).
2- Different species can be identified by the host behavior and sprouting traits. The lack of a stromata (stalk) suggests to me that you ants weren't the preferred host species as that stalk helps to disperse the fungus. Then again, a lot of spores were generated from such few hosts so it might just be a fungal species that doesn't induce that change. It could also be that any queens have a different biochemistry than workers so the usual pathway of expression didn't happen.
3- For those freaking out about the parasites, you can rest a bit easier knowing that some species are themselves parasitized by other fungi! Yes, the parasites have parasites. OK, maybe that doesn't help you rest easier.
4- Scientists are investigating the potential chemical benefits of these fungi. Like many animal products, they have actually been used in traditional Easter/Chinese medicine.

[pinnapole]

From someone who has auditory processing issues, thank you so much for including Captions with the upload!! ❤

[FallenAngelHiroko]

Oh no! I'm so sorry. While I don't have a bond with insects like you do, it's always sad to see a pet go. I was thinking about the one lone queen. The one that was seemingly outcasted. Maybe she knew the others were infected and isolated herself.

[fakjbf]

For those wondering about the project, Mikey is in a few episodes of the show “Almost Paradise” according to his IMDb page. This show is about a former DEA agent living in the Philippines, and is apparently very highly rated (I had never heard of it before this).

[matcha_eats_drywall]

it's been so long since I watched you, literally over 2 years, but this wasn't the expected reintroduction. You're the one who helped me stop being scared of ants.

[WannabeCanadianDev]

Hope the strikers get what they want, all work is work and deserves to be fairly compensated.

[shelbyridley]

Truly glad you noticed the fungus before opening. If that could of been transferable to other ants it would be like covid but ant room addition. Shame for the dead queens tho. Hope they have a great colony in the sky 😢

[personmensch]

Oh, my condolences for losing the weaver ants sorority.

I'm happy for the other queen though. Hope she'll have her workers soon🙂

[darwinskeeper]

Sorry to hear the news of the Sorority. Please take the utmost care care to keep the fungus out of the antroom. I am not a fungus expert, but Stormlord93's advice sounds very on point. Thank you for keeping the ants.

[d_ruggs]

The way weavers use their larva to stitch the nest together looks almost like tool use lol.

[Maxfromohio]

I think you should not open the container and leave it closed just in case it can infect your other ants

[rjgarcia]

AC Family, AntsCanada is a guest star, playing the character 'Mikey' in episodes 5 and 10 (Season Finale) of Almost Paradise Season 2 now on Freevee in the US and UK. Other countries can watch it on a later date.

Let's all support his episodes and the series! Ant love forever!